I Used to Hike

In 6th grade I had 6 friends. If I called their home phones and they couldn’t hang, I’d spend the afternoon in the backwoods of Pennsylvania with mother nature by my side. I was happy. When 7th grade hit I got a Facebook account. Suddenly I had 250 friends and counting! I’d spend hours in my dark basement in front of the computer screen, liking girls’ photos I couldn’t talk to in real life, posting some badass comment about Flo Rida who I didn’t really listen to, stalking people I hate, and posting pictures of me having the time of my life. I felt more connected to people I (kind of) knew than ever before! In actuality, I was depressed as hell.

Fast forward to high school, I forgot how to share my feelings one-on-one and connect on an intimate level. When I’d hang out with people, we’d all be on our phones. I judged my self worth on the numbers of likes I received. Since I’ve been in college, I’ve discovered social media platforms I enjoy and feel good about, namely Snapchat. Facebook feels like an empty void, Snapchat feels like one-on-one personal interaction. But Facebook continues to expand and monopolize, wanting to be the one social media that takes all my time.

I’ve deleted my Facebook account several times but can’t last past a couple weeks– it’s an addiction to me. So although my number of friends has since grown to 712, I still feel disconnected. I’m closed off from the beautiful life around me. My reality never adds up to others’ highlight reels. I used to hike.

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